Search results for: main controlling factors

Authors: Mohamed Watfa, William Daher, Hisham Al Azar

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The main idea behind in network aggregation is that, rather than sending individual data items from sensors to sinks, multiple data items are aggregated as they are forwarded by the sensor network. Existing sensor network data aggregation techniques assume that the nodes are preprogrammed and send data to a central sink for offline querying and analysis. This approach faces two major drawbacks. First, the system behavior is preprogrammed and cannot be modified on the fly. Second, the increased energy wastage due to the communication overhead will result in decreasing the overall system lifetime. Thus, energy conservation is of prime consideration in sensor network protocols in order to maximize the network-s operational lifetime. In this paper, we give an energy efficient approach to query processing by implementing new optimization techniques applied to in-network aggregation. We first discuss earlier approaches in sensors data management and highlight their disadvantages. We then present our approach “Energy Efficient Indexed Aggregation" (EEIA) and evaluate it through several simulations to prove its efficiency, competence and effectiveness.

Keywords: Sensor Networks, Data Base, Data Fusion, Aggregation, Indexing, Energy Efficiency

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Authors: S. N. S. Thein, H. L. Yang, Z. B. Liu

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There are many modes of transport. Among them, maritime transport is a major transportation mode of international trade. In the Republic of the Union of Myanmar (Burma), water transportation served as one of the most important modes of transport for country's exports and imports. Getting the accurate information and data-gathering activity are the most important aspects for any study field. Therefore, in this research, a historical review of the development of ports in Myanmar and how they have changed had been carried out. All the relevant literature and documents have also been reviewed, studied, and organized. The sources of collected data are from reports, journals, internet, as well as from the publications of authorized organizations and international associations. To get better understanding about real situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar; current condition of existing ports, expansion and on-going projects, and future port development plans are described successively. Hence, the main purpose of this study is to build up a comprehensive picture of maritime transport and logistics, in addition to border trade within ASEAN and Myanmar. It will help for academic researchers, decision makers, and stakeholders for national planning as well as for the local and foreign investors to recognize current situation of maritime transport and logistics in Myanmar.

Keywords: ASEAN, border trade, logistics, maritime transport, ports of Myanmar.

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Authors: A. Mahdy

Abstract:

The main objective of the present article is to explore the state of mixed convection nanofluid flow of gyrotactic microorganisms from an isothermal vertical wedge in porous medium. In our pioneering investigation, the easiest possible boundary conditions have been employed, in other words when the temperature, the nanofluid and motile microorganisms’ density have been considered to be constant on the wedge wall. Adding motile microorganisms to the nanofluid tends to enhance microscale mixing, mass transfer, and improve the nanofluid stability. Upon the Oberbeck–Boussinesq approximation and non-similarity transmutation, the paradigm of nonlinear equations are obtained and tackled numerically by using the R.K. Gill and shooting methods to obtain the dimensionless velocity, temperature, nanoparticle concentration and motile microorganisms density together with the reduced Sherwood, Nusselt, and numbers. Bioconvection parameters have strong effect upon the motile microorganism, heat, and volume fraction of nanoparticle transport rates. In the case when bioconvection is neglected, the obtained computations were found in very good agreement with the previous published data.

Keywords: Bioconvection, wedge, gyrotactic microorganisms, porous media, nanofluid, mixed.

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Authors: G. M. Rehan, H. S. Mahmoud

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Sustainability and sustainable development have been the main theme of many international conferences, such the UN Rio de Janeiro 1992 Earth Summit This was followed by the appearance of the global conferences at the late of the nineties and the early of 2000 to confirm the importance of the sustainable development .it was focused on the importance of the economic development as it is considered an effective tool in the operations of the sustainable development. Industry plays a critical role in technological innovations and research and development activities, which are crucial for the economic and social development of any country. Transportation and mobility are an important part or urban economics and the quality of life. To analyze urban transportation and its environmental impacts, a comprehensive approach is needed. So this research aims to apply new approach for the development of the urban communities that insure the continuity and facing the deterioration. This approach aims to integrate sustainable transport solutions with economic development and community development. For that purpose we will concentrate on one of the most sustainable cities in the world (Curitiba in Brazil) which provides the world with a model in how to integrate sustainable transport considerations into business development, road infrastructure development, and local community development.

Keywords: Community development, economic development sustainable development, sustainable transport

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Authors: Javier Barrachina, Piedad Garrido, Manuel Fogue, Julio A. Sanguesa, Francisco J. Martinez

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It is very common to observe, especially in Computer Science studies that students have difficulties to correctly understand how some mechanisms based on Artificial Intelligence work. In addition, the scope and limitations of most of these mechanisms are usually presented by professors only in a theoretical way, which does not help students to understand them adequately. In this work, we focus on the problems found when teaching Evolutionary Algorithms (EAs), which imitate the principles of natural evolution, as a method to solve parameter optimization problems. Although this kind of algorithms can be very powerful to solve relatively complex problems, students often have difficulties to understand how they work, and how to apply them to solve problems in real cases. In this paper, we present two interactive graphical applications which have been specially designed with the aim of making Evolutionary Algorithms easy to be understood by students. Specifically, we present: (i) TSPS, an application able to solve the ”Traveling Salesman Problem”, and (ii) FotEvol, an application able to reconstruct a given image by using Evolution Strategies. The main objective is that students learn how these techniques can be implemented, and the great possibilities they offer.

Keywords: Education, evolutionary algorithms, evolution strategies, interactive learning applications.

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Authors: May A. Massoud

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The availability of water in adequate quantity and quality is imperative for sustainable development. Worldwide, significant imbalance exists with regards to sustainable development particularly from a water and sanitation perspective. Water is a critical component of public health, and failure to supply safe water will place a heavy burden on the entire population. Although the 21st century has witnessed wealth and advanced development, it has not been realized everywhere. Billions of people are still striving to access the most basic human needs which are food, shelter, safe drinking water and adequate sanitation. The global picture conceals various inequalities particularly with regards to sanitation coverage in rural and urban areas. Currently, water scarcity and in particular water governance is the main challenge which will cause a threat to sustainable development goals. Within the context of water, sanitation and health, sustainable development is a confusing concept primarily when examined from the viewpoint of policy options for developing countries. This perspective paper aims to summarize and critically evaluate evidence of published studies in relation to water, sanitation and health and to identify relevant solutions to reduce public health impacts. Evidently, improving water and sanitation services will result in significant and lasting gains in health and economic development.

Keywords: developing countries, health, sanitation, sustainability, water

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Authors: G. A. Gevorgyan, K. A. Ghazaryan, T. H. Derdzyan

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The heavy metal pollution of the soils around the mining area near Shamlugh town and related risks to human health were assessed. The investigations showed that the soils were polluted with heavy metals that can be ranked by anthropogenic pollution degree as follows: Cu>Pb>As>Co>Ni>Zn. The main sources of the anthropogenic metal pollution of the soils were the copper mining area near Shamlugh town, the Chochkan tailings storage facility and the trucks transferring ore from the mining area. Copper pollution degree in some observation sites was unallowable for agricultural production. The total non-carcinogenic chronic hazard index (THI) values in some places, including observation sites in Shamlugh town, were above the safe level (THI<1) for children living in this territory. Although the highest heavy metal enrichment degree in the soils was registered in case of copper, however, the highest health risks to humans especially children were posed by cobalt which is explained by the fact that heavy metals have different toxicity levels and penetration characteristics.

Keywords: Armenia, copper mine, heavy metal pollution of soil, health risks.

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Authors: Dimitrios J. Dimitriou, Maria F. Sartzetaki

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The assessment variables of the accessibility and the sustainability of access infrastructure for remote regions may vary significant by location and a wide range of factors may affect the decision process. In this paper, the environmental disturbance implications of transportation system to key demand and supply variables impact the economic system in remote destination are descripted. According to a systemic approach, the key sustainability variables deals with decision making process that have to be included in strategic plan for the critical transport infrastructure development and their relationship to regional socioeconomic system are presented. The application deals with the development of railway in remote destinations, where the traditional CBA not include the external cost generated by the environmental impacts that may have a range of diverse impacts on transport infrastructure and services. The analysis output provides key messages to decision and policy makers towards sustainable development of transport infrastructure, especially for remote destinations where accessibility is a key factor of regional economic development and social stability. The key conclusion could be essential useful for relevant applications in remote regions in the same latitude.

Keywords: Sustainable development in remote regions, sustainability variables, transport infrastructure, strategic planning.

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Authors: A. Salsabili, M.Aghajani Mir, S.Saheri, Noor Ezlin Ahmad Basri

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The main aims in this research are to study the solid waste generation in the Faculty of Engineering and Built Environment in the UKM and at the same time to determine composition and some of the waste characteristics likewise: moisture content, density, pH and C/N ratio. For this purpose multiple campaigns were conducted to collect the wastes produced in all hostels, faculties, offices and so on, during 24th of February till 2nd of March 2009, measure and investigate them with regard to both physical and chemical characteristics leading to highlight the necessary management policies. Research locations are Faculty of Engineering and the Canteen nearby that. From the result gained, the most suitable solid waste management solution will be proposed to UKM. The average solid waste generation rate in UKM is 203.38 kg/day. The composition of solid waste generated are glass, plastic, metal, aluminum, organic and inorganic waste and others waste. From the laboratory result, the average moisture content, density, pH and C/N ratio values from the solid waste generated are 49.74%, 165.1 kg/m3, 5.3, and 7:1 respectively. Since, the food waste (organic waste) were the most dominant component, around 62% from the total waste generated hence, the most suitable solid waste management solution is composting.

Keywords: Solid Waste, Waste Management, Characterizationand Composition

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Authors: D. Dinis, M. Liz Martins, A. Rocha

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Quality of school meals is one of the major concerns of governments and international organizations worldwide. This study aims to evaluate nutritional compliance of meals served at a Portuguese primary school considering the portions stated by Portuguese Education Ministry. To evaluate adequacy of portions served, weighing of all meal components offered to students and leftovers was performed during ten consecutive days at two different moments. Plate waste (%) was calculated by the ratio of food discarded and food served to the children. Nutritional evaluation of menus was made using the Portuguese Food Composition Table. Meals evaluated showed a percent contribution to energetic daily intake higher than recommendations. Meals served to children were considered high energy and protein dense. No significant waste of soup was accounted and the main meal components wasted were fish and vegetables. It will be necessary to adjust portions indicated by Ministry of Education in order to comply with recommendations and reduce food waste. 

Keywords: Portions, waste, nutritional adequacy, school meals.

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Authors: Sergey I. Shtork, Aleksey P. Vinokurov, Sergey V. Alekseenko

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The paper reports on the results of experimental and numerical study of nonstationary swirling flow in an isothermal model of vortex burner. It has been identified that main source of the instability is related to a precessing vortex core (PVC) phenomenon. The PVC induced flow pulsation characteristics such as precession frequency and its variation as a function of flowrate and swirl number have been explored making use of acoustic probes. Additionally pressure transducers were used to measure the pressure drops on the working chamber and across the vortex flow. The experiments have been included also the mean velocity measurements making use of a laser-Doppler anemometry. The features of instantaneous flowfield generated by the PVC were analyzed employing a commercial CFD code (Star-CCM+) based on Detached Eddy Simulation (DES) approach. Validity of the numerical code has been checked by comparison calculated flowfield data with the obtained experimental results. It has been confirmed particularly that the CFD code applied correctly reproduces the flow features.

Keywords: Acoustic probes, detached eddy simulation (DES), laser-Doppler anemometry (LDA), precessing vortex core (PVC).

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Authors: Vikas Rastogi, Vipan Kumar, Loveleen Kumar Bhagi

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The present work deals with the structural analysis of turbine blades and modeling of turbine blades. A common failure mode for turbine machines is high cycle of fatigue of compressor and turbine blades due to high dynamic stresses caused by blade vibration and resonance within the operation range of the machinery. In this work, proper damping system will be analyzed to reduce the vibrating blade. The main focus of the work is the modeling of under platform damper to evaluate the dynamic analysis of turbine-blade vibrations. The system is analyzed using Bond graph technique. Bond graph is one of the most convenient ways to represent a system from the physical aspect in foreground. It has advantage of putting together multi-energy domains of a system in a single representation in a unified manner. The bond graph model of dry friction damper is simulated on SYMBOLS-shakti® software. In this work, the blades are modeled as Timoshenko beam. Blade Vibrations under different working conditions are being analyzed numerically.

Keywords: Turbine blade vibrations, Friction dampers, Timoshenko Beam, Bond graph modeling.

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Authors: Yung-Ting Chang, Chung-You Tsai, Yu-Chuan Li

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Nosocomial (i.e., hospital-acquired) infections (NI) is a major cause of morbidity and mortality in hospitals. NI rate is higher in intensive care units (ICU) than in the general ward due to patients with severe symptoms, poor immunity, and accepted many invasive therapies. Contact behaviors between health caregivers and patients is one of the infect factors. It is difficult to obtain complete contact records by traditional method of retrospective analysis of medical records. This paper establishes a contact history inferential model (CHIM) intended to extend the use of Proximity Sensing of rapid frequency identification (RFID) technology to transferring all proximity events between health caregivers and patients into clinical events (close-in events, contact events and invasive events).The results of the study indicated that the CHIM can infer proximity care activities into close-in events and contact events. The infection control team could redesign and build optimal workflow in the ICU according to the patient-specific contact history which provided by our automatic tracing system.

Keywords: Active Radio Frequency Identification, Intensive Care Unit, Nosocomial Infections

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Authors: Viktor Achter, Sebastian Breuers, Marc Seifert, Ulrich Lang, Joachim Götze, Bernd Reuther, Paul Müller

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Within the last years, several technologies have been developed to help building e-learning portals. Most of them follow approaches that deliver a vast amount of functionalities, suitable for class-like learning. The SuGI project, as part of the D-Grid (funded by the BMBF), targets on delivering a highly scalable and sustainable learning solution to provide materials (e.g. learning modules, training systems, webcasts, tutorials, etc.) containing knowledge about Grid computing to the D-Grid community. In this article, the process of the development of an e-learning portal focused on the requirements of this special user group is described. Furthermore, it deals with the conceptual and technical design of an e-learning portal, addressing the special needs of heterogeneous target groups. The main focus lies on the quality management of the software development process, Web templates for uploading new contents, the rich search and filter functionalities which will be described from a conceptual as well as a technical point of view. Specifically, it points out best practices as well as concepts to provide a sustainable solution to a relatively unknown and highly heterogeneous community.

Keywords: D-Grid, e-learning, e-science, Grid computing, SuGI.

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Authors: S. Sarumathi, N. Shanthi, S. Vidhya, M. Sharmila

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An extensive amount of work has been done in data clustering research under the unsupervised learning technique in Data Mining during the past two decades. Moreover, several approaches and methods have been emerged focusing on clustering diverse data types, features of cluster models and similarity rates of clusters. However, none of the single clustering algorithm exemplifies its best nature in extracting efficient clusters. Consequently, in order to rectify this issue, a new challenging technique called Cluster Ensemble method was bloomed. This new approach tends to be the alternative method for the cluster analysis problem. The main objective of the Cluster Ensemble is to aggregate the diverse clustering solutions in such a way to attain accuracy and also to improve the eminence the individual clustering algorithms. Due to the massive and rapid development of new methods in the globe of data mining, it is highly mandatory to scrutinize a vital analysis of existing techniques and the future novelty. This paper shows the comparative analysis of different cluster ensemble methods along with their methodologies and salient features. Henceforth this unambiguous analysis will be very useful for the society of clustering experts and also helps in deciding the most appropriate one to resolve the problem in hand.

Keywords: Clustering, Cluster Ensemble Methods, Coassociation matrix, Consensus Function, Median Partition.

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Authors: Y. R. Li, Y. Y. Wang

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After allowing direct flights from Mainland China to Taiwan, Chinese tourists increased according to Tourism Bureaustatistics. There are from 0.19 to 2 million tourists from 2008 to 2011. Mainland China has become the main source of Taiwan developing tourism industry. Taiwanese government should know more about comments from Chinese tourists to Taiwan in order toproperly market Taiwan tourism and enhance the overall quality of tourism. In order to understand Chinese visitors’ comments, this study adopts content analysis to analyze electronic word-of-mouth on Web. This study collects 375 blog articles of Chinese tourists from Ctrip.com as a database during 2009 to 2011. Through the qualitative data analysis the traveling destination imagesis divided into seven dimensions, such as senic spots, shopping, food and beverages, accommodations, transportation, festivals and recreation activities. Finally, this study proposes some practical managerial implication to know both positive and negative images of the seven dimensions from Chinese tourists, providing marketing strategies and suggestions to traveling agency industry.

Keywords: Destination Image, Content Analysis, Electronic Word-of-Mouth.

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Authors: J. C. M. Santos, J. C. A. Sousa, A. J. Rubio, L. S. Soletti, F. Gasparotto, N. U. Yamaguchi

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Magnetic graphene has received widespread attention for their capability of water and wastewater treatment, which has been attracted many researchers in this field. A bibliometric analysis based on the Web of Science database was employed to analyze the global scientific outputs of magnetic graphene for water treatment until the present time (2012 to 2017), to improve the understanding of the research trends. The publication year, place of publication, institutes, funding agencies, journals, most cited articles, distribution outputs in thematic categories and applications were analyzed. Three major aspects analyzed including type of pollutant, treatment process and composite composition have further contributed to revealing the research trends. The most relevant research aspects of the main technologies using magnetic graphene for water treatment were summarized in this paper. The results showed that research on magnetic graphene for water treatment goes through a period of decline that might be related to a saturated field and a lack of bibliometric studies. Thus, the result of the present work will lead researchers to establish future directions in further studies using magnetic graphene for water treatment.

Keywords: Composite, graphene oxide, nanomaterials, scientometrics.

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Authors: Mojtaba Heydarizad, Hamid Ghalibaf Mohammadabadi

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Iran is a semi-arid and arid country in south-western Asia in the Middle East facing intense climatological drought from the early times. Therefore, studying the precipitation events and the moisture sources and air masses causing precipitation has great importance in this region. In this study, the moisture sources and stable isotope content of precipitation moisture in three main events in 2015 have been studied in North-Eastern Iran. HYSPLIT model backward trajectories showed that the Caspian Sea and the mixture of the Caspian and Mediterranean Seas are dominant moisture sources for the studied events. This showed the role of cP (Siberian) and Mediterranean (MedT) air masses. Stable isotope studies showed that precipitation events originated from the Caspian Sea with lower Sea Surface Temperature (SST) have more depleted isotope values. However, precipitation events sourced from the mixture of the Caspian and the Mediterranean Seas (with higher SST) showed more enriched isotope values.

Keywords: HYSPLIT, Iran, Northern Khorasan, stable isotopes.

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Authors: Hanan Ahmed-Hosni Mahmoud, Nadia Al-Ghreimil

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In-place sorting algorithms play an important role in many fields such as very large database systems, data warehouses, data mining, etc. Such algorithms maximize the size of data that can be processed in main memory without input/output operations. In this paper, a novel in-place sorting algorithm is presented. The algorithm comprises two phases; rearranging the input unsorted array in place, resulting segments that are ordered relative to each other but whose elements are yet to be sorted. The first phase requires linear time, while, in the second phase, elements of each segment are sorted inplace in the order of z log (z), where z is the size of the segment, and O(1) auxiliary storage. The algorithm performs, in the worst case, for an array of size n, an O(n log z) element comparisons and O(n log z) element moves. Further, no auxiliary arithmetic operations with indices are required. Besides these theoretical achievements of this algorithm, it is of practical interest, because of its simplicity. Experimental results also show that it outperforms other in-place sorting algorithms. Finally, the analysis of time and space complexity, and required number of moves are presented, along with the auxiliary storage requirements of the proposed algorithm.

Keywords: Auxiliary storage sorting, in-place sorting, sorting.

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Authors: M. Ismail, Cao Yihua, Zhao Ming

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Heavy rainfall greatly affects the aerodynamic performance of the aircraft. There are many accidents of aircraft caused by aerodynamic efficiency degradation by heavy rain. In this Paper we have studied the heavy rain effects on the aerodynamic efficiency of NACA 64-210 & NACA 0012 airfoils. For our analysis, CFD method and preprocessing grid generator are used as our main analytical tools, and the simulation of rain is accomplished via two phase flow approach-s Discrete Phase Model (DPM). Raindrops are assumed to be non-interacting, non-deforming, non-evaporating and non-spinning spheres. Both airfoil sections exhibited significant reduction in lift and increase in drag for a given lift condition in simulated rain. The most significant difference between these two airfoils was the sensitivity of the NACA 64-210 to liquid water content (LWC), while NACA 0012 performance losses in the rain environment is not a function of LWC . It is expected that the quantitative information gained in this paper will be useful to the operational airline industry and greater effort such as small scale and full scale flight tests should put in this direction to further improve aviation safety.

Keywords: airfoil, discrete phase modeling, heavy rain, Reynolds number

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Authors: Kavi K. Khedo, R. K. Subramanian

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Wireless sensor networks (WSN) are currently receiving significant attention due to their unlimited potential. These networks are used for various applications, such as habitat monitoring, automation, agriculture, and security. The efficient nodeenergy utilization is one of important performance factors in wireless sensor networks because sensor nodes operate with limited battery power. In this paper, we proposed the MiSense hierarchical cluster based routing algorithm (MiCRA) to extend the lifetime of sensor networks and to maintain a balanced energy consumption of nodes. MiCRA is an extension of the HEED algorithm with two levels of cluster heads. The performance of the proposed protocol has been examined and evaluated through a simulation study. The simulation results clearly show that MiCRA has a better performance in terms of lifetime than HEED. Indeed, MiCRA our proposed protocol can effectively extend the network lifetime without other critical overheads and performance degradation. It has been noted that there is about 35% of energy saving for MiCRA during the clustering process and 65% energy savings during the routing process compared to the HEED algorithm.

Keywords: Clustering algorithm, energy consumption, hierarchical model, sensor networks.

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Authors: Chang, Chun-Lang, Liu, Chun-Kai

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This study, for its research subjects, uses patients who had undergone total knee replacement surgery from the database of the National Health Insurance Administration. Through the review of literatures and the interviews with physicians, important factors are selected after careful screening. Then using Cross Entropy Method, Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression, and Particle Swarm Optimization, the weight of each factor is calculated and obtained. In the meantime, Excel VBA and Case Based Reasoning are combined and adopted to evaluate the system. Results show no significant difference found through Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression and Particle Swarm Optimization with over 97% accuracy in both methods. Both ROC areas are above 0.87. This study can provide critical reference to medical personnel as clinical assessment to effectively enhance medical care quality and efficiency, prevent unnecessary waste, and provide practical advantages to resource allocation to medical institutes.

Keywords: Total knee replacement, Case Based Reasoning, Cross Entropy Method, Genetic Algorithm Logistic Regression, Particle Swarm Optimization.

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Authors: Li Li, Kai-Hsuan Chu

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It is well known that the real estate price depends on a lot of factors. Each house current value is dependent on the location, room number, transportation, living convenience, year and surrounding environments. Although, there are different experienced models for housing agent to estimate the price, it is a case by case study without overall dynamic variation investigation. However, many economic parameters may more or less influence the real estate price variation. Here, the influences of most macroeconomic parameters on real estate price are investigated individually based on least-square scheme and grey correlation strategy. Then those parameters are classified into leading indices, simultaneous indices and laggard indices. In addition, the leading time period is evaluated based on least square method. The important leading and simultaneous indices can be used to establish an artificial intelligent neural network model for real estate price variation prediction. The real estate price variation of Taipei, Taiwan during 2005 ~ 2017 are chosen for this research data analysis and validation. The results show that the proposed method has reasonable prediction function for real estate business reference.

Keywords: Real estate price, least-square, grey correlation, macroeconomics.

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Authors: Xhevrie Mamaqi, Jesus Miguel, Pilar Olave

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The lifelong learning is a crucial element in the modernization of European education and training systems. The most important actors in the development process of the lifelong learning are the trainers, whose professional characteristics need new competences and skills in the current labour market. The main objective of this paper is to establish an importance ranking of the new competences, capabilities and skills that the lifelong learning Spanish trainers must possess nowadays. A wide study of secondary sources has allowed the design of a questionnaire that organizes the trainer-s skills and competences. The e-Delphi method is used for realizing a creative, individual and anonymous evaluation by experts on the importance ranking that presents the criteria, sub-criteria and indicators of the e-Delphi questionnaire. Twenty Spanish experts in the lifelong learning have participated in two rounds of the e- DELPHI method. In the first round, the analysis of the experts- evaluation has allowed to establish the ranking of the most importance criteria, sub-criteria and indicators and to eliminate the least valued. The minimum level necessary to reach the consensus among experts has been achieved in the second round.

Keywords: competences and skills, lifelong learningtrainers, Spain, e-DELHI method.

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Authors: Merita Dauti, Edita Alili-Idrizi, Sihana Ahmeti–Lika, Ledjan Malaj

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The extermination and proper disposal of pharmaceutical wastes from expired and unused medications remains a disputable issue due to their specific nature and characteristics. Even though the hazards from these wastes are already well known in terms of environment and human health, people still treat them as usual wastes. At a national level, in many countries the management of pharmaceutical and medical wastes has been one of the main objectives in order to protect people’s health and the environment. Even though many legal regulations exist in this respect, there has not been a single law that would clearly explain the procedures of returning medicines, ways of selection, treatment and extermination of pharmaceutical wastes. This paper aims at analyzing the practices of pharmaceutical waste management and treatment in some European countries as well as a review of the legislation and official guidelines in managing these kinds of wastes and protecting the environment and human health. A suitable treatment and management of expired medications and other similar wastes would be in the interest of public health in the first place, as well as in the interest of healthcare institutions and other bodies engaged in environment protection.

Keywords: Pharmaceutical waste, legal regulation, proper disposal, environment pollution.

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Authors: Farzana Sharmin, Mohammad Tipu Sultan, Benqian Li

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Advancement of new media technology and consumption of social media have altered the way of communication in the tourism industry, mostly for consumers’ travel planning, online purchase, and experience sharing activity. There is an accelerating trend among young consumers’ to utilize this new media technology. This paper aims to analyze the attitude of young consumers’ about social media use for travel purposes. The convenience random sample method used to collect data from an urban area of Shanghai (China), consists of 225 young consumers’. This survey identified behavioral determinants of social media consumption by the extended theory of planned behavior (TPB). The instrument developed support on previous research to test hypotheses. The results of structural analyses indicate that attitude towards the use of social media is affected by external factors such as availability and accessibility of technology. In addition, subjective norm and perceived behavioral control have partially influenced the attitude of respondents’. The results of this study could help to improve social media travel marketing and promotional strategies for respective groups.

Keywords: Social media, theory of planned behavior, travel behavior, young consumer.

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Authors: Aida Amirazodi

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"Bazaar" is a Persian word from the language of Iranians of 2500 years ago which has entered the languages of other countries. “Bazaar", the trading or marketing place with the architectural principles and concerns, was formed in Iran because of the long experience of marketing. This has become a valuable inheritance of Islamic ideological civilization and Iranian advanced architecture and a model of Islamic-marketing places with spectacular elements and parts, and the place for economical, social and cultural exchanges. “Bazaars" are found in cities of Iran and many Islamic countries in west of Asia and north of Africa. With the stable structure and function as a symbol of social values, this place has become the economic center and the illustration of stable architecture and advanced principles. “Bazaars" as the heart of Iranian cities economy with several major and minor rows of shops, in closed and open areas, along a fixed line or branches with beautiful arcs, patios, and frameworks are among the main national inheritance of Iran and one of the important Iranian architectural treasures because of its Iranian nobility.

Keywords: Traditional Bazaar, Form of Bazaar, Iranian Architecture

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Authors: Vahhab Attar Olyaee, Fouad Attar Olyaee

Abstract:

Many IT projects come to failure because of having technical approach, focusing on the final product and lack of proper attention to strategic alignment. Project management models quite often have technical management view [4], [8], [13], [14]. These models focus greatly on the finalization of the project product and the delivery of the product to the customer. However, many project problems are due to lack of attention to the needs and capabilities of the organizations or disregarding how to deploy and use the product in the organization. In this regard, in the current research we are trying to present a solution with the purpose of raising the value of the project in an organization. This way, the project outputs will be properly deployed in the organization. Therefore, a comprehensive model is presented which takes into account the whole processes from initial step of project definition to the deployment of the final outputs in the organization and then the definition of all roles and responsibilities to put the model into practice. Taking into account the opinions of experts and project managers, to prove the performance of the model, the project problems were recognized and based on the model, categorized and analyzed. And at the end it is made clear that ignoring the proper definition of the project and not having a proper understanding of the expected value on the one hand and not supervising the emerged value in the process of production and installment are among the most important factors that bring a project to failure.

Keywords: IT Governance, Project Model, Roles and Responsibilities of Project

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Authors: Konstantinos G. Dassios, Guillaume Bonnefont, Gilbert Fantozzi, Theodore E. Matikas, Costas Galiotis

Abstract:

We report herein the development and preliminary mechanical characterization of fully-dense multi-wall carbon nanotube (MWCNT)-reinforced ceramics and glasses based on a completely new methodology termed High Shear Compaction (HSC). The tubes are introduced and bound to the matrix grains by aid of polymeric binders to form flexible green bodies which are sintered and densified by spark plasma sintering to unprecedentedly high densities of 100% of the pure-matrix value. The strategy was validated across a PyrexTM glass / MWCNT composite while no identifiable factors limit application to other types of matrices. Nondestructive evaluation, based on ultrasonics, of the dynamic mechanical properties of the materials including elastic, shear and bulk modulus as well as Poisson’s ratio showed optimum property improvement at 0.5 %wt tube loading while evidence of nanoscalespecific energy dissipative characteristics acting complementary to nanotube bridging and pull-out indicate a high potential in a wide range of reinforcing and multifunctional applications. 

Keywords: Carbon nanotubes, ceramic matrix composites, toughening, ultrasonics.

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Authors: Martina Drdlová, Michal Frank, Jaroslav Buchar, Josef Krátký

Abstract:

The main aim of the presented experiments is to improve behaviour of sandwich structures under dynamic loading, such as crash or explosion. Several cellular materials are widely used as core of the sandwich structures and their properties influence the response of the entire element under impact load. To optimize their performance requires the characterisation of the core material behaviour at high strain rates and identification of the underlying mechanism. This work presents the study of high strain-rate characteristics of a specific porous lightweight blast energy absorbing foam using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar (SHPB) technique adapted to perform tests on low strength materials. Two different velocities, 15 and 30 m.s-1 were used to determine the strain sensitivity of the material. Foams were designed using two types of porous lightweight spherical raw materials with diameters of 30- 100 *m, combined with polymer matrix. Cylindrical specimens with diameter of 15 mm and length of 7 mm were prepared and loaded using a Split Hopkinson Pressure Bar apparatus to assess the relation between the composition of the material and its shock wave attenuation capacity.

Keywords: Blast, foam, microsphere, resin.

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